MY FIRST WEEK

Well everybody I've been here a week now and let me tell you this city is amazing. Every where I turn is some kind of icon I've seen in movies or sitcoms or heard about in songs..Ok lets start with Times Square..When I first arrived here on Monday night I wearily (the flight is a killer) wound my way down to the corner of Broadway and Times Square... for the uninitiated what an incredible sight.. Lights, billboards and people everywhere..it's just so massive and so vibrant and was still bustling even though it was 11pm. I walked around with Chris, an ex client and friend of mine who kindly picked me up at the airport, for about an hour or so but finally succumbed to jet lag and went back to my hotel and crashed for 10 hours straight.

TUESDAY: Got up about midday feeling a little more refreshed and started to explore. Started walking down W47th St where my hotel is till I hit the famed 5th Ave and wandered through shops such as Deisel, Abercrombie and Fitch, Prada, you get the picture.. all amazing places and so huge (like the price tags) then came back to my hotel to get ready for my first Broadway show Shrek The Musical (which sucked I might add)

WEDNESDAY: Got up about 10 am or so and just headed down 7th Ave till I hit 34th St where Macys is situated...what an incredible store..the movie "Miracle on 34th St" is based on the Macys experience. The range of things you can buy and so much cheaper than back home is amazing..and the number of staff is mind boggling and they are so polite..what a pleasant change. In New York everybody walks everywhere because its so much faster than catching a cab so the streets are constantly full of people going about their business and always in a hurry..well the locals anyway. Some of you may know that one of the plays I really wanted to see while here was titled "A Steady Rain" which starred Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in a 2 hander powerhouse but when I looked online the best tix were nearly $400; a little bit rich for my blood, so I decided to have Wed evening off from seeing any shows and just chill out. I was walking near the TKTS Booth, which is on Times Square and sells tix to shows that night at half price. It was about 7pm, an hour before most shows start, and I heard a scalper yelling out about 'A Steay Rain" so I went over to him and said, "do you have any decent seats for tonights performance?"..he said, " for how many?" and I said," just me"..he said," tonight is your lucky night I have 1 seat on its own 4 rows from the front dead centre and you can have it for $95" so I said ok hoping that I hadn't been given a fake ticket and ripped off... Well It was as he said and the quality of the production and seeing those 2 stars up close and personal was spectacular... they both, after the performance, did an auction on stage for the Broadway Widows Charity and sold their shirts to two very wealthy women in the audience for $10,000 each..It was a lot of fun and for a great cause and it was nice to see those 2 guys interact as themselves. They quite obviously have a great affinity for each other.

THURSDAY: I met up with an old mate of mine for breakfast David Jacobsen who used to be my agent 20 years ago and is here setting up a television pilot and scoping out some theatres for his dad Kevin Jacobsen who is staging Dirty Dancing here next year.

After that I did the usual wandering around and found my way to Trump Tower and then down to The Empire State Building on 34th ST..Both iconic landmarks..Unfortunately on wed night because of the theatre show I was attending I missed the lighting of the Rockerfeller Centre Christmas Tree at which Michae Buble performed live....oh well never mind maybe next time....that night, Thursday night, I attended a David Mammet play titled "Race" which starred one of my favourite actors James Spader (of Boston Legal Fame)..the play was a courtroom drama so he just played Alan Shore (his character from the show). The play was a tour de force performance and received a 3 minute standing ovation..(that's a long time for a standing ovation)

FRIDAY: I met up with a great guy named Tom who is a good friend of a friend of mine. He very graciously spent a lot of time showing me around. We met up at a bar called the Palm which is a bit of a power landmark in NYC and the walls are adorned with photos and sketches of every celebrity and star you could ever think of. (except mine haha). We then went to a famous Jazz club called Birdland to catch the famed Birdland Big Band with phenominal drummer Tommy Igoe and extraordinary pianist Kenny Asher (a nicer more humble guy you would never meet) Kenny Asher has co writen with Paul Williams, toured with Barbra Streisand and played on hers and Celine Dion's albums and his list of creds goes on and on.

We then caught the subway down to Soho to eat a restaurant called "The Lure" renowned for its seafood and a favourite hangout of shock jock Howard Stern (he wasnt there though) and the food was sensational. Tom ordered a mixup of oysters for me from different areas and water depths (can you believe it??) and there was a different dipping sauce for each oyster (bizzarre) and then he said I had to try a certain fish (can't remember the name of it) ..The waitress brought it out and told me all the bones had been removed from the inside and I should just eat it as though I was eating a steak...Well..It was unlike anything I have ever had.. a whole fish with seemingly no incisions anywhere and yet no f---ing bones ..how did they do THAT???? We then walked down to a Blues club called the Terra where a 4 piece band called the Michael Powers Blues Experience was playing... they were smokin' hot players and the vocals were great!

SATURDAY: A pretty cruisy day..went out with David again and his beautiful lady Caroline went back to Macys then caught the subway (all by myself) to my friend Chris and his partner Gissella's place in New Jersey which overlooked the Statue Of Liberty. Oh and by the way it started snowing while I was waiting for Chris to pick me at the station.. How beautiful..and freezing...as a footnote; when I caught the subway back to my hotel the guy next to me said to me "Do you know if this train goes to Paroma?"

I said "Man did you ask the wrong guy or what"

SUNDAY: Went to sleep about 3am and was awakened by the housemaid knocking on the door at 9am (I forgot to put the do not disturb sign on the door) so I decided to get my ass out of bed and get up to the Ed Sullivan Theatre to see if I could get a ticket to the David Letterman Show well I gotta tell you they just called me and I'm in...I'm going to the taping tomorrow Monday at 1pm...Looking forward to that...Will let you all know what its like in my next blog...Take care everybody and talk soon